The polar vortex is doing its thing, you're huddled up and
hunkering down inside, the cabin fever is starting to set in, and you're not
about to venture out to the movie theater (most of which are closed anyway) for
fear of getting stuck there. So what's a bored soul to do?

One word: Netflix. (OK, two words: Netflix and cocoa.) The
online movies-streaming service is immune to the cold, and it has plenty of
snowy titles to help you pass the time until conditions improve outside. Below,
find a list of suitably chilly selections to help get you started, including
links to the appropriate pages.

See? You're feeling warmer already, aren't you?

"Fargo"
(R; 98 minutes; 1996) -- The Coen brothers weave a wonderfully quirky crime
drama, all set in the dead of the Minnesota winter -- and all centered around a
pregnant but persistent cop played in an Oscar-winning turn by Frances
McDormand. This movie is great all-year-round, but it's particularly
tantalizing on a day like today.

"Blancaneives"
(PG-13; 104 minutes; 2012) -- Unlike most of the films on this list, this
black-and-white, Spanish-made silent film (a la "The Artist") isn't set in
snowy climes. But it earns a spot on the list by virtue of its title -- which
translates to "Snow White" -- and because it is a simply lovely adaptation of
the classic tale. (Read my full
"Blancaneives" review here.)

"Chasing
Ice" (PG-13; 75 minutes; 2012) -- National Geographic photographer James
Balog heads to the Artic for this documentary in which he uses time-lapse
photography to chronicle the world's changing glaciers. Not only is it beautifully
photographed (if scary) stuff, but it was nominated last year for an Oscar in
the documentary feature category.

"The
Ice Harvest" (R; 88 minutes; 2005) -- John Cusack stars in this darkly
comic, Christmas-set crime thriller as a lawyer who attempts to line his
pockets through an embezzlement scheme -- but who only incurs the wrath of an
angry mobster.

"Rare
Exports: A Christmas Tale" (R; 82 minutes; 2010) -- OK, so we're a few
weeks too late for the Yule setting of this dark Finnish horror import, but go
on and try to resist its daring and original story, about a group of Nordic
hunters who stumble upon the real
Santa Claus. Hopefully they will survive. (Read
my full
"Rare Exports" review here.)

"The
Grey" (R; 117 minutes; 2011) -- Liam Neeson does what he does best -- that
is, kick butt -- in this thriller about a group of oil workers who must fight
the elements, and a pack of hungry wolves, when their plane crashes in Alaska.

"Ready
to Fly" (Unrated; 75 minutes; 2012) -- Just in time for the Sochi Olympics
comes this documentary, about an American skier and her attempts to convince
Olympic officials to allow women to compete in the Games' ski-jumping contest,
which is open only to men.

"The
Falcon and the Snowman" (R; 131 minutes; 1985) -- Outside of the title, it
really doesn't have much to do with snow (at least not the cold kind). But it
is a solid drama, starring Timothy Hutton and Sean Penn in a
based-on-real-events story about two guys who sold U.S. secrets to the Soviets
in the 1970s.

"The
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (R; 146 minutes, 2009) -- No, it's not David
Fincher's English-language remake. Rather, it's the excellent Swedish original,
starring Noomi Rapace as the rebellious hacker who teams up with a journalist
to unravel a decades-old mystery made all the more chilling by the film's icy
setting.

"The
Polar Express" (G; 99 minutes; 2004) -- Because we've got to have one for
the kiddies (and because "Ice Age" isn't streaming).